Archives for May 2010

Rick Mather, architect for the latest VMFA expansionAn under-the-radar museum gets an under-the-radar expansion by an under-the-radar architect. Considering the size, scope and importance of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts' collection, it generally receives surprisingly little attention from the media outside of Virginia. And considering the architectural importance of its … [Read more...] about MeTube: My Upcoming WSJ Review of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ Expansion

Agnes Gund, Museum of Modern Art's president emerita, as seen among the posted mug shots of Marina Abramović's visitorsPhotograph: Marco AnelliIf, unlike me, you want to endure a long wait in line in the Museum of Modern Art's atrium for the chance to sit opposite Marina Abramović, you'll have to do it today. The performance priestess' self-imposed penance, which began on Mar. … [Read more...] about Last Day with Marina at MoMA: The 15-Minute Limit UPDATED

Actor Dennis Hopper, best known for his 1969 "Easy Rider" film role, has died of prostate cancer at the age of 74. His less known visual arts work is the subject of the first show to be brought to LA MOCA by dealer Jeffrey Deitch, the museum's incoming director: Dennis Hopper Double Standard, July 11-Sept. 26.Coincidentally, today is the last day of the last show, Shepard … [Read more...] about LA MOCA’s Dennis Hopper Retrospective Becomes a Memorial Show

Cover of catalogue for Rose Art Museum's "permanent" collection In a detailed, thoroughly reported story for today's Boston Globe, Geoff Edgers' dropped this pre-holiday weekend bombshell: Brandeis to Loan Art to Boost Budget. In his account, Edgers repeatedly uses the "loan" euphemism, but what's really contemplated is renting the Rose Art Museum's collection for big … [Read more...] about Rent-a-Rose: Sotheby’s Persuades Brandeis to Lend Collection for Profit

The first Johns "Flag," 1954-55, collection of the Museum of Modern Art© 2010 Jasper Johns / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY When we last discussed the Michael Crichton sale at Christie's, we had the NY Times' Carol Vogel fingering Bryn Mawr dealer Richard Rossello as the buyer of the record-breaking $28.6-million Jasper Johns "Flag" (not the one shown above) and everybody else … [Read more...] about My Q&A with Richard Rossello: Will the Real Johns “Flag” Buyer Please Salute?

Renzo Piano's back-of-a-placecard drawing of his plan for the expansion (left) of the Louis Kahn-designed Kimbell Art Museum (right)Just a day after the Whitney Museum's board green lighted its planned new Renzo Piano-designed facility in New York's Meatpacking District, the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, has released details of its final design for its own Renzo Piano … [Read more...] about Renzo Piano Week: Details of Kimbell Addition Announced (day after Whitney’s green light)

Cross-section of Downtown Whitney, as presented in July 2008 to New York's City Planning CommissionIn a press release that just hit my inbox but is not up on the Whitney Museum's website at this writing [UPDATE: now it is], the museum announced that its board today agreed to break ground next May for the Renzo Piano-designed Downtown Whitney. The press release also detailed the … [Read more...] about Whitney Groundbreaking Plans Announced; Talks with Met on Breuer Building Disclosed UPDATED

With all the talk of future paywalls to view online articles from newspapers, bloggers are worried that many of the free links they provide to readers may be doomed to extinction.Peter Kafka of All Things Digital, part of the Wall Street Journal Digital Network, writes:Will the paywall the New York Times is building scare away the paper's natural allies---bloggers who like to … [Read more...] about NY Times Paywall: Some Good News for Bloggers!

The Critic Sees(Image from Mayo Clinic website)Can CultureGrrl be sweet?In gratitude and relief that my cataract surgery went well (or so I think---bandage comes off tomorrow), I'm dropping my usually truculent persona to applaud a few recent developments.I'm still recovering from the disconcerting experience of being completely conscious for the entire procedure, hearing words … [Read more...] about Feeling Sugary, Post-Surgery: A Paean to Good Ideas

Honoree Philippe de Montebello, speaking last night at the National Arts ClubI was on hand yesterday for the dinner honoring Philippe de Montebello at the National Arts Club in New York, where two of the originally announced speakers---Marc Porter, chairman of Christie's Americas, and Neil Shapiro, president of WNET/Thirteen (New York Public Television, where Philippe has a … [Read more...] about MeTube: Bionic Philippe on How Titanium Knees Influenced Departure from the Met

Jeffrey Deitch onstage at the Guggenheim MuseumIn March, I mentioned that I had attended a public talk at the Guggenheim Museum by Jeffrey Deitch, LA MOCA's director-designate, after which I chatted with him and learned of his plans to continue selling art from his gallery's inventory, even after he assumes the directorship of the museum on June 1.What I haven't yet reported is … [Read more...] about Deitch Speaks! His Guggenheim Talk on Art, Pop Culture, MOCA and Gaga

At the end of my recent post on Third Party Guarantors and the "Tilted Playing Field", I misleadingly suggested that Christie's printed catalogues don't disclose the fact that third-party guarantors may bid on the works they guarantee and that they receive financing fees from Christie's, whether or not they are the winning bidders. (Sotheby's says [scroll down] that its … [Read more...] about Clarification on Third-Party Guarantees at Christie’s

Kaywin Feldman, president-designate of AAMDNo, that headline is not a Jeopardy question. It's a reprise of a previous CultureGrrl headline, published in September 2007, when Kaywin Feldman was named to succeed the better known William Griswold (now director at the Morgan Library & Museum) as director of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. At that time I wrote that I had … [Read more...] about AAMD’s New President: Who is Kaywin Feldman?

Jeffrey DeitchIn the time leading up to assuming his new post at LA MOCA on June 1, New York dealer Jeffrey Deitch should have bent over backwards to dispel doubts about his fitness for the job, by sounding and acting like a museum director.Instead it appears that you can take Deitch out of his gallery, but you can't take the dealer out of Deitch.He recently allowed himself to … [Read more...] about In the Hopper: Jeffrey Deitch’s Plans for LA MOCA

Marc Porter, chairman of Christie's Americas While I was at Christie's covering the Crichton auction, I took advantage of my encounter at the postsale press conference with Marc Porter, the chairman of Christie's Americas, to get his response to this post about what I regard as a tilted, rather than level, playing field among bidders for certain lots at Christie's … [Read more...] about My Q&A with Christie’s Marc Porter on Third-Party Guarantors and the “Tilted Playing Field”